(1 of )Sebastopol resident Deborah Tavares speaks up about her concerns she had during a public forum held regarding PG & E and Smart Meters put on by Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo held at Sebastopol Veterans Building, April 21, 2010. Tavares had Smart Meters installed on her properties in Southern California without being notified.

Sebastopol crowd decries PG&E's SmartMeters

LORI A. CARTER

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | April 22, 2010

What was intended as a "balanced format" discussion about PG&amp;E's SmartMeter installation in Sonoma County became a hatefest against the utility Wednesday night when it pulled out at the last minute.

Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo said PG&amp;E had promised to send a representative to participate in the Sebastopol forum, sparked by residents' concerns about the SmartMeters' safety and accuracy.

But Carrillo said he received a text message Wednesday afternoon from PG&amp;E saying it would not attend. Because the format was changed to include include an open exchange with the audience, he said the company representatives "no longer feel they can have a meaningful dialog with their customers."

"I do find it rather insulting that they would not participate in this format," he said, prompting jeers and hisses aimed at PG&amp;E from the crowd of about 300.

Carrillo organized Wednesday's meeting after he received hundreds of complaints from West County residents about PG&amp;E's replacement of the old, analog meters with the new meters that beam digital information via radio waves to the company for tracking and billing purposes.

Without PG&amp;E on the stage at the Sebastopol Veteran's Building, two representatives from the Public Utilities Commission, which has jurisdiction over the utility, took the brunt of residents' distrust and venom.

Critics contend the radio waves cause a range of debilitating health problems ranging from chronic fatigue, headaches, insomnia, anxiety and depression to heart problems, high blood pressure and cancer.

When one of the panelists asked members of the audience if they opposed the new meters, nearly everyone raised their hands.

Judith Iam of Forestville said she was dismayed when the PUC's Marzia Zafar suggested that those with health and safety concerns write to the utility.

Zafar said the PUC has received about 600 complaints about the meters, fewer than 1 percent of the 5.5 million installed statewide. Most of those complaints, she said, involved meter inaccuracies not health concerns.

The PUC has appointed an independent investigator with no ties to PG&amp;E to look into the complaints, she said.

"In response to this less than one percent, we've hired someone to look at it to make sure that it's accurate, that it's safe, that the complaints are addressed," Zafar said. "It's like proven innocent until guilty. We can't presume that PG&amp;E or the manufacturer or the SmartMeter is this terrible thing, unless we can look at it and someone has told us that something is wrong with it or something is right with it.

"What should we do?"

"Call for a moratorium on behalf of the public safety, of course," said Iam, who was backed by applause from the audience.

Sebastopol landlord Deborah Tavares said her tenants have health concerns about the meters here and at her properties in Southern California. Because of her complaints, PG&amp;E put her properties on a "deferral list" for installation later.

She challenged the PUC to indemnify landlords against any health problems tenants may experience, since the agency has apparently determined that the meters aren't harmful.

"There is no evidence to prove or disprove that there are no health issues associated with these meters," she said. "I don't want my tenants to get sick."

The PUC representatives said they would look into such a letter and get back to Tavares within a week.

Carrillo said he has received no reply from PG&amp;E or the PUC in response to his letter asking for a moratorium on meter replacements until Sonoma County residents' concerns are answered.

He said that PG&amp;E also had asked its two scientific experts not to attend the forum.

PG&amp;E plans to replace all 379,592 meters in Sonoma County with the SmartMeters. According to its website, it has replaced about 10 percent so far and intends to continue until all are replaced by mid-2012.

The company said the new meters are more convenient because no meter reader is needed to physically check the meter each month, residents can review their usage in real-time and the company can pinpoint power outages and restore power faster.